pop music
Demi Lovato's ninth album, 'It's Not That Deep', goes for a frolic on the dancefloorFriday, 24 October 2025
Demi Lovato is impressive on many fronts. She’s a Noughties Disney tween star who’s become an outspoken activist in an America where it’s increasingly dangerous to be one. She’s lived a rollercoaster ride of a life, rampantly exploring sexuality,... Read more... |
Lily Allen's 'West End Girl' offers a bloody, broken view into the wreckage of her marriageWednesday, 29 October 2025
Even in our garish online age, most celebrities and pop stars sensibly obfuscate the details of their private lives.Not so much Lily Allen. She seems to work through her issues by laying it all out there. No tabloid can pull a scoop if you’ve... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Joe Meek - A Curious MindSunday, 26 October 2025
A curious mind, indeed. Outer space, and what may be there. Communicating with those in the hereafter. Spooks, vampires and other horror film perennials. The wild west. Deceased rock ’n’ rollers Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly.Joe Meek’s... Read more... |
The Lemonheads' 'Love Chant' is a fine return to formMonday, 20 October 2025
The Lemonheads were one of the original punk-pop outfits and have been an on-off going concern for 40 years. However, singer, guitarist, bandleader and loveable slacker, Evan Dando’s well-documented relationship with Class A drugs also made them the... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Evie Sands - I Can’t Let GoSunday, 19 October 2025
Over 1965 to 1968 Brooklyn's Evie Sands issued a string of singles with classic top sides. Amongst them were “Take Me For a Little While,” “I Can't Let Go,” “Picture me Gone” and “Angel of the Morning.” For reasons which are tackled in the essay... Read more... |
Heartbreak and soaring beauty on Chrissie Hynde & Pals' Duets SpecialFriday, 17 October 2025
A key part of Chrissie Hynde’s brilliance and longevity has always been her ability to keep multiple musical personas going at once. She’s the grizzled but urbane street poet in the Bob Dylan / Lou Reed mould. She’s the pop craftswoman, always in... Read more... |
The Last Dinner Party's 'From the Pyre' is as enjoyable as it is over-the-topThursday, 16 October 2025
Before we get into it, reader, can you accept that The Last Dinner Party are a band born of privilege and high academic study? Of poshness, classical composition, private education, master’s degrees in music? No? Might as well stop reading then.... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Marc and the Mambas - Three Black Nights Of Little Black BitesSunday, 12 October 2025
A month after Soft Cell’s "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" single peaked at number three in the UK charts, Marc Almond issued a single credited to Marc and the Mambas. March 1982’s "Sleaze (Take it, Shake it)" / "Fun City" was produced by his... Read more... |
Hollie Cook's 'Shy Girl' isn't heavyweight but has a summery reggae liltWednesday, 08 October 2025
Hollie Cook was in the final line-up of post-punk groundbreakers The Slits. When singer Ari Up died in 2010 and the group ended, there was a flurry of interest in Cook for a while. She supported The Stone Roses and appeared on Jools Holland’s Later.... Read more... |
Odd times and clunking lines in 'The Life of a Showgirl' for Taylor SwiftSaturday, 04 October 2025
It’s funny: people say a lot online that what you’re allowed to like and dislike in music is bounded by age, gender and so forth. “It’s not FOR you,” they say. And in many ways, when it comes to Taylor Swift, that’s fair enough.There are certainly... Read more... |
Justin Lewis: Into the Groove review - fun and fact-filled trip through Eighties popThursday, 02 October 2025
Into the Groove is Justin Lewis’s follow-up to 2023’s Don’t Stop the Music, in which he traced 40 years of pop history by offering bite-sized facts for every day from January 1st to December 31st, jumping randomly from year to year. I noted in my... Read more... |
Lady Gaga, The Mayhem Ball, O2 review - epic, eye-boggling and full of spiritWednesday, 01 October 2025
The backscreens pop alive. A wall of photographer’s flashguns. On cyberpunk crutches, Lady Gaga stumbles jerkily towards us. She sings her 2009 global smash “Paparazzi”, her arms clad in armour, on her head a metallic skullcap. Her corseted dress... Read more... |
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